Death of Twin Doctors Linked to Despondency

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The mysterious deaths of the Marcus brothers, gynecologists and identical twins whose bodies were found in their York Avenue apartment on Thursday, may have been the result of suicidal despondency atter each had suffered an emotional breakdown, a doctor close to them said yesterday.

The physician, a gynecologist who also worked at New York Hospital, where the two brothers were on the staff, said that about a month ago both brothers exhibited very strange symptoms an the same day, symptoms that puzzled the hospital staff and caused them both to be referred for emergency treatment.

The physician would not give details of their symptoms, except to say that they were “really out of it.” He asked that his name not he used.

The brothers, Dr. Cyril C. Marcus and Dr. Stewart L. Marcus, were 45 years old. They looked so much alike that their colleagues at the hospital and their neighbors on York Avenue had difficulty telling them apart.

On the day of the allegedly strange behavior at the hospital, one of them had arrived to perform an operation, the physician who knew them said. But, he continued, the brother (he did not disclose which one) was behaving so oddly he was sent down to the emergency room to be treated himself, and the hospital staff called the other brother.

“When he came in, they thought he was the first brother who had come back up from the emergency room, they looked so much alike, and he was out of it, too,” the physician said.

Hospital Has No Comment

Mr. Richard Goldberg, administrative assistant at New York Hospital, said that he had heard nothing about the incident with the brothers a month ago and that anyone who might know of it was not available for comment.

“We're not sure exactly what happened,” he said.

The police would not give any information about the brothers' background.

The bodies of the two men were discovered by a building handyman in their locked 10th‐floor apartment Thursday morning.

According to Dr. Donald Jason of the Medical Examiner's office, they had been dead about a week, and Stewart Marcus died one or two days, before Cyril Marcus. Dr. Jason said yesterday that he had not yet determined the cause of death, but had ruled out violence. He said tests were under way to determine whether or not the two brothers had died of drug overdoses. The tests, he said, would not be completed for at least several days, perhaps two weeks.

Dr. Jason also said that examination had revealed no evidence that either brother had been suffering from a serious illness, such as cancer. But he did say that Cyril Marcus had weighed just over 100 pounds when he died, although he was 5 feet 11 inches tall.

Cyril Marcus was found lying face down on a bed, wearing only undershorts. His brother was found lying face up on the floor, nude, the police said.

Homicide Discounted

“At this time, we don't think there was a homicide involved,” a police spokesman said. For that reason, he added, police are not investigating the brothers' background, only the cause of death, which will be finally determined by the Medical Examiner's office.

Neighbors on their floor of the building, which is known as Sutton Terrace, said the two brothers seldom talked to anyone.

Mrs. Yvonne Green, now a resident of Hollywood, but a former tenant of their building, said that in 1972, when Cyril Marcus was living alone in the apartment where the bodies were found, she saw a man in a work suit and a man in a business suit breaking into the apartment. When she asked them what they were doing, she recalled, the man in the business suit turned around, glared at her and said:

“My brother is ill.”

Medical colleagues and former patients described the two brothers as “brilliant men.” Dr. Gideon Panter, a gynecologist, said the textbook the brothers edited on obstetrics and gynecology was “one of the major textbooks” in the field.

Robert H. Abel, a writer whose wife, Carol, was treated through two difficult pregnancies by Stewart Marcus, said. “We owe our children to Dr. Marcus.”

Several months ago, Mr. Abel said, his wife had gone to visit Dr. Marcus for an annual checkup and he failed to keep the appointment. This happened several times, Mr. Abel said, and the last time, Dr. Marcus's nurse had confided to Mrs. Abel that she was worried about the physician. The nurse could not be reached for comment yesterday.

The two doctors had a joint practice at 420 East 72d Street. They had both graduated from Syracuse University in 1951 and from the State University's Upstate Medical Center in 1954.